A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) Paediatrics examined the screen time habits of 220 families. Photo / 123rf.com
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) Paediatrics examined the screen time habits of 220 families. Photo / 123rf.com
The average 3-year-old could be missing out on more than 1100 adult words and nearly 200 conversational turns a day because of screen time, new Australian research has found.
A study published today and led by Telethon Kids Institute senior research officer Dr Mary Brushe examined the screen time habits of 220 families with toddlers.
Fitbit-like devices were used to measure electronic noise and parent-child talk, and were worn by children at home for 16-hour spans across multiple periods of time (when they were 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months old).
That revealed the adult words, child vocalisations and parent-child interactions, and researchers coded more than 7000 hours of audio with the aid of speech recognition technology.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) Paediatrics, showed the greater the screen time a child had, the less parent-child interaction.
“The results were most profound when children reached 3 years of age. Just one minute of screen time was associated with seven fewer adult words, five fewer child vocalisations and one less back-and-forth interaction,” Brushe said.
The World Health Organisation’s screen time guidelines are up to one hour a day for children aged 36 months. At that level, a child could miss out on up to 397 adult words, 294 vocalisations and 68 conversational turns a day, Brushe said.
“We know, however – both from our own data and from international estimates – that children on average are exceeding these guidelines.
“Based on the actual average daily screen time for children in this study at 36 months – 172 minutes, or just under three hours – they could in fact be missing out on up to 1139 adult words, 843 vocalisations and 194 conversational turns per day.”
Participating families were told only afterwards that screen time was being measured, meaning they didn’t subconsciously alter their habits.
Just under three hours of screen time meant toddlers were missing out on over 1100 adult words per day. Photo / 123rf
A language-rich home environment - such as lots of talking and conversations from a parent to child - is vital to development. The study authors acknowledged the reality of family life means “it is unrealistic to assume that all families will simply stop using screens with their young children”.
However, there are ways screen time can be made more beneficial, Brushe said, including through “interactive co-viewing”.
“This might include singing along with theme songs, repeating phrases or questions from the screen, and using the content of a show as a conversation starter after the screen has been turned off.”
The independent and not-for-profit Telethon Kids Institute is one of the biggest medical research institutes in Australia. The study, “Screen time and parent-child talk when children are aged 12 to 36 months”, was completed in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, the University of Oxford, and the Menzies Health Institute at Griffith University.
The New Zealand Ministry of Health guidelines for under-5s discourage screen time for children under 2, and recommend limiting screen time to less than one hour a day for children older than 2. The ministry cites research that found prolonged screen use can be detrimental to a child’s physical and emotional health and communication skills, and can affect the quality and quantity of their sleep.
